Instability and Ethnicity in the Great Lakes Region: A Historical Contextualization of Banyamulenge Identity

Abstract

This study argues that the Banyamulenge—a Tutsi-descended minority in South Kivu, DRC—have had their ethnic identity historically shaped by migration, contested citizenship, and regional wars. Based on fieldwork in Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC, as well as secondary sources, the article shows how nationality laws, the 1964 Simba Rebellion, the 1994 Vangu Report, and the creation of the Minembwe Commune framed them alternately as insiders and outsiders. While Banyamulenge leaders emphasized territorial belonging to claim Congolese identity, elites and neighboring states politicized it for their own purposes. Interviews reveal that community members, including younger generations, now stress civic belonging and interethnic cooperation, countering depictions of them as outsiders. The study argues that lasting peace in the Great Lakes Region requires inclusive citizenship and accountable institutions rather than ethnic exclusion.